Saturday, August 17, 2013

POTHERA EZHUTHACHAN-THE POET REBORN

Pothera
Raman Ezhuthachan was a contemporary of Thunjath Ezhuthachan whose
celebrated work 'soorya sthuthi' is reckoned as a classic work in
Malayalam. The poem is an invocation to the mighty sun, the creator
and preserver of all life forms on earth. There is a strange story
regarding the creation of this charming verse in Malayalam. He
contracted the deadly chicken pox and as there was no treatment for
the highly contagious decease he was abandoned by his wife and
relatives. They left him to die in a forest . But his disciples who
loved him deeply were not ready to part him. With the help of the
tribal 'karimbalars' they tried to rescue him. Ezhuthachan asked them
to put him on a hammock made up of 51 coir strings (symbolizing 51
letters) hanging from the branch of a tree above a violent river
overlooking a treacherous valley were he could see the sun through the entire day. He penned the verses from there and
at the end of the verse staring with 'aa' he cut the first string of
the hammock. Then he penned the verses starting with the succeeding
malayalam alphabet one by one. After completing 51 verses all the 51
strings had been cut and he fell down deep into the river. His
disciples who were witnessing the scene from the river bank thought
everything over. But miraculously he rose up from the river unhurt.
When he swam back to the shore everyone was astonished to see that he
had been fully cured. He had completed the celebrated
'sooryasthuthi'. When the news of the miracle spread everyone
including his wife returned. He proved that sun bath is a treatment for
all ailments.